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NHL Draft - ProspectsDiscuss hockey prospects from all over the world and the NHL Draft.

That's like saying too many people like Jones because he's Popeye Jones' son. Ridiculous, either way.

Both guys have earned their stripes. And both of them have done enough to warrant #1 overall consideration. If anything, imo, it's Drouin who's on the outside looking in, despite his impressive season.

To be fair, I'm not a big fan of the WJC or really any short international tournaments when it comes to scouting players for a reason. Sometimes they can be spot on, and sometimes it can make you think players like Igor Knyazev, Sami Lepisto, and Pavel Skrbek are stars in the making. It can be a good indicator, or it can completely blow things out of proportion for a player that just doesn't have it over the long haul. I love the WJC as far as exposing me to players goes, but I hate it for how people (not saying you're doing it here) will tend to run with it as a narrative for the players career until they reach the NHL and reality sets in. Even then it'll buy a severely inadequate player a lot of time.

I've seen his whole career.
Nothing suggests he'll be anything more than a Dion Phaneuf without the shot and playmaking abilities.
I'm fairly confident that I get the last laugh.

Defensemen are always hard to predict. I wouldn't be so confident if I were you. I don't know which games you've been watching, but right now Ristolainen's offense is better than his defensive side. He also has playmaking ability and a decent enough shot. It's hard to understand how you manage to see the total opposite.

Defensemen are always hard to predict. I wouldn't be so confident if I were you. I don't know which games you've been watching, but right now Ristolainen's offense is better than his defensive side. He also has playmaking ability and a decent enough shot. It's hard to understand how you manage to see the total opposite.

I haven't seen enough to hold a strong opinion personally, but fwiw Craig Button doesn't appear to be sold on him either...at least that's what his rankings would indicate. He looks great to me, but my sampling size is small.

I haven't seen enough to hold a strong opinion personally, but fwiw Craig Button doesn't appear to be sold on him either...at least that's what his rankings would indicate. He looks great to me, but my sampling size is small.

The main problem for me when your choices are forward vs defensemen is the forward is more likely to progress faster and you will see quick dividends on your pick. With a Defenseman he probably won't hit his peak till mid to late 20s

The standings were out of date when the above article was published. Now another week or two later their mock looks even stranger. So, based on today's standings, below would be my adjusted top dozen mock for the eastern scout...

1. FLA - Seth Jones (D) - Jones goes first no matter who picks, but I'd prefer he went to COL
2. COL - Jon Drouin - they take the BPA, plus this winger fits better than another C
3. CGY - Nate MacKinnon - potential franchise C for a team that desparately needs one
4. CAR - Alex Barkov - could push one of the Staals to wing down the line
5. TBL - Val Nichushkin - the Ning are no strangers to taking Russians (Kucherov, Namestinikov, & the goalie from last year)
6. PHI - Darnell Nurse (D) - the Flyers get a Pronger-lite -- hopefully he's not rushed though
7. NSH - Elias Lindholm - the Preds get a fellow Swede to center newly acquired Forsberg (both with '94 birthdays)
8. EDM - Sean Monahan - the Oilers take their future Horcoff replacement (3C with 2C upside)
9. NJD - Hunter Shinkaruk - a scoring winger to fill the hole left by Parise
10. BUF - Rasmus Ristolainen (D) - a huge d-man to complement all of the young Sabre fwds
11. PHX - Alex Wennberg - Yotes finally take a forward after all these years
12. WPG - Ryan Pulock (D) - the Jets take a fine blueliner who also happens to be from the province of MB

The standings were out of date when the above article was published. Now another week or two later their mock looks even stranger. So, based on today's standings, below would be my adjusted top dozen mock for the eastern scout...

1. FLA - Seth Jones (D) - Jones goes first no matter who picks, but I'd prefer he went to COL
2. COL - Jon Drouin - they take the BPA, plus this winger fits better than another C
3. CGY - Nate MacKinnon - potential franchise C for a team that desparately needs one
4. CAR - Alex Barkov - could push one of the Staals to wing down the line
5. TBL - Val Nichushkin - the Ning are no strangers to taking Russians (Kucherov, Namestinikov, & the goalie from last year)
6. PHI - Darnell Nurse (D) - the Flyers get a Pronger-lite -- hopefully he's not rushed though
7. NSH - Elias Lindholm - the Preds get a fellow Swede to center newly acquired Forsberg (both with '94 birthdays)
8. EDM - Sean Monahan - the Oilers take their future Horcoff replacement (3C with 2C upside)
9. NJD - Hunter Shinkaruk - a scoring winger to fill the hole left by Parise
10. BUF - Rasmus Ristolainen (D) - a huge d-man to complement all of the young Sabre fwds
11. PHX - Alex Wennberg - Yotes finally take a forward after all these years
12. WPG - Ryan Pulock (D) - the Jets take a fine blueliner who also happens to be from the province of MB

Totally plausible.

That said, still could see Florida deciding MacKinnon is perfect for Huberdeau. Colorado needs either Jones or Drouin, but not MacKinnon as much. Makes one wonder if there will be some jockeying at the top, similar to 2002...